German irregular verbs: strong verbs with principal parts

There are roughly 150–200 strong (irregular) verbs in modern German, but the most commonly used ones number around 50–70. This table covers all the ones you are likely to encounter at A1–B1 level. Learning the strong verbs by their vowel-change pattern (e.g., ei → ie/ie, a → u/a) is more efficient than memorising each one individually.

The three principal parts are: (1) the infinitive (e.g., fahren — to drive), (2) the 3rd person singular Präteritum (er fuhr — he drove), and (3) the Perfekt auxiliary + past participle (ist gefahren — has driven). From these three forms, you can derive all other conjugations of the verb.

Use sein as the Perfekt auxiliary with: (1) verbs of motion that indicate a change of location (gehen, fahren, fliegen, kommen), (2) verbs of change of state (einschlafen, aufwachen, sterben, wachsen), and (3) the special verbs sein, bleiben, and passieren. All other verbs use haben. When in doubt, check the table — the auxiliary column shows which one each verb takes.

Start with the most frequent: sein (to be), haben (to have), werden (to become/will), gehen (to go), kommen (to come), sehen (to see), sprechen (to speak), schreiben (to write), fahren (to drive), nehmen (to take). These appear in almost every conversation. Then work through the verb families by vowel pattern — once you know "bieten/bot/geboten", the pattern helps with "biegen, schieben, fliegen".

Stem-changing verbs alter their vowel in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present tense (du/er forms), but return to the original vowel in other forms. Common patterns: e → i (geben → er gibt), e → ie (sehen → er sieht), a → ä (fahren → er fährt), o → ö (stoßen → er stößt). This is separate from the Präteritum change — stem-changing verbs may or may not also be strong (irregular) in Präteritum.